7-Eleven cycling team to conquer Asia with jelly beans?
MANILA, Philippines - This year, nine Filipinos made it to the prestigious 2010 International Cycling Union (UCI) Asia Tour ranking, placing 11th out of the 189 Asian countries that competed.
For a long time, the sport of cycling was slowly losing its cachet in the country. But now, fully funded by the Philippine Seven Corporation, the 7-Eleven cycling team wants to change this by promoting cycling as a lifestyle and to use cycling as a medium to promote healthy living through partnering with environmental groups and agencies. Seven of the nine Pinoy cyclists who made it to the UCI are from the professional 7-Eleven cycling team, composed of Ric Rodriguez, Lloyd Reynante, Irish Villanueva, Mark John Lexer Galedo, Joel Calderon, Jonifer Ravina, Sherwin Carrera, and Tots Oledan. Formerly called Team Exterra, the 7-Eleven team has competed in various local and international races such as LPGMA tour of Luzon, Le Tour de Filipinas, Tour de Indonesia, and the Asian Games.
“We exert a lot of time and effort for our rigorous training and we also do research on how to achieve our maximum potential while we compete,” stresses Ric Rodriguez, 7-Eleven cycling team director. “Just like the US-based Team Jelly Belly pro-cycling team, which we competed against in some races in the past, we also use Jelly Belly Sport Beans during training, and we saw that it helped increase our energy and endurance during competitions.”
What’s a Jelly Belly Sport Bean? It’s a sports nutrition product created by the makers of Jelly Belly jelly beans. This delicious jelly bean is specially formulated to help fuel the body before, during, and after exercise, offering a unique delivery system to help manage optimal intake of carbohydrates and nutrients when they are needed most.
Each pack of Sport Beans (28g) contains 24 grams of carbohydrates to fuel the body during intense exercise and a balanced supply of electrolytes (sodium and potassium), vital for maintaining fluid balance — sans the inconvenience of carrying bottles of sports drinks. In addition, Sport Beans contain thiamin (vitamin B1), riboflavin (vitamin B2), and niacin (vitamin B3) to help burn carbohydrates and fat, as well as vitamin C to protect muscles and cells against degeneration and further damage.
